ooc: Just for reference, the herbs found in Wildberry Grove are agrimony, alfalfa, boneset, elderberry, marigold, motherwort, and yarrow! We need to collect four different ones!

Artorias had come to her and requested that she lead a group of the pack's healers out to the grove to see if they could make use of the herbs that grew in the Wildberry Grove and so she would. She had collected herbs from this area a few times before so she certainly knew that there were options here, but she was interested to see just how many different kinds of herbs there were. She brought Syanna, Emile, and Lia with her since they were the wolves she had seen and interacted with the most around the infirmary. They all congregated in the castle courtyard and then went out to the grove. She decided against wearing her cloak only because it was already so hot, but she did have her dagger with her just in case and of course Eilwen and Blue accompanied them. She had considered asking Ysmir to escort them as well, but ultimately decided they were more than close enough to home to call for someone if they needed the help.

Once they were in the shaded grove of trees that were packed with berry bushes, she looked to the others and said, "Why don't we spread out and see what we can find? My satchel is empty so anything we find I can carry back for us." There was never much planning involved when it came to gathering herbs. They could guess and have ideas of where certain things grew, but outside of their controlled gardens in the greenhouse it was always difficult to know what was growing where and what would be big enough to harvest from. She didn't go far, but she did break off from the group a bit to start searching for any familiar and useful herbs.

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

Focusing on her work had helped Syanna return back to the world of the living at a gradual rate, able to put her distracted mind to a task to keep herself occupied. If she was working, she couldn't mope and dwell on her own issues. Plus anything she could do to help improve the pack that had become a home to her was worth sinking all of her time into. Expanding the pack's lands outwards to increase their territory and population seemed like a logical next step for the growing Hallows, and the decision to claim the Wildberry Grove equally as prudent. She'd been to these woods on a few occasions in the past, mostly to gather herbs for her own purposes during the Long Night, so she knew how abundant the land could be in beneficial plants, not to mention all of the ripe fruit produced here year round.

Syanna met up with her group in the castle courtyard, Gwynevere leading herself, Lia, and Emile out across the northern plains to the shady groves. She had also brought her own satchel for carrying plants and herbs back. Why not make this trip a shopping run as well? Once they crossed the borders into the freshly scented territory, Syanna glanced around at some of the plants they passed on their way in. While most of them were berry bushes or fruit trees of various kinds, she had noted the distinct goldenrod flowers of marigolds growing in amongst the shrubbery. She made a mental note of their location, and as soon as they split up to do their own work, she backtracked to find a large cluster of the bright golden flowers, using careful claws to pick some of the stems and stowing the flowers away in her satchel. Marigold was useful for treating burns and sore throats, a handy herb to turn into a topical salve when fire was in abundance in their bedrooms.

"Syanna"

Well, Emile was really getting out lately, he like Syanna he'd decided to bring his own planter bag with him. Several of a few members of his small window garden were no longer viable, he'd seen the signs early luckily and pruned the useful parts and dried them to store as well as he could. But it was probably time for him to plant something new, especially something he was less familiar with. So maybe it was good timing all things considered. He joined the group in the courtyard and trailed behind them as they all moved to the grove. Emile had been here before, he'd gathered a few herbs here before and he recognized Boneset and Marigold flowers as he passed them but he decided he wanted something he knew less about. The bright yellow flowers of Agrimony catching his eye.

As the group split up Emile approached a small patch of the flowers. He would first make sure to focus on gathering some of the plants by removing them at the root and creating a small pile of them, before slipping out from under the bad and setting about digging out a few of the smaller flowers, careful to dig around the roots, ones that would fit better on his window sill. It was a slow process, and particularly awkward to slide the plants into his bag without destroying them. But still a plant useful for stomach issues was probably worth taking that extra care for.


Speech

Art by Nyssa

Fern walks the grove that is soon to be a part of the Hallows lands, making sure that predators have not returned while also reinforcing scent markers as she goes. Puff, the gray girl’s stoat companion, bounces along, rushing in and out of the undergrowth in search of tasty treats and exciting things. Gray head shakes as she smiles warmly to her friend, chuckling when Puff reappears with red berry juice painting her lips. The sound of voices nearby pulls Fern’s attention from the stoat who quickly disappears back into the greenery. Blue eyes turn the spot she had last seen her friend and chuckles once more before moving in the direction of the voices.

Silently Fern makes her way through the berry laden land, joining the healers of the Hallows as Gwynevere instructs them to find herbs. Once they disperse, the gray girl moves up to the black Carpathius sibling and dips her head in greeting while saying, “Hope you don’t mind me joining. I will keep an eye out for any predators.” A friendly smile offered to Gwyn as her blue eyes slide over Lia, Syanna, and Emile. The group of wolves can be anxious and she hopes to alleviate some fear with her presence. Plus, her mother had been a healer and she knows how to identify a few of the more common herbs. An extra set of eyes can’t hurt… right?

Slowly, Fern begins to patrol the area that the healers are spreading out into, checking in with each wolf as she sees them. Her absent stoat suddenly bursts through a large patch of undergrowth, excitedly chattering, “Fern! Fern! Look at these pretty flowers I found!” Pale lips pull upward as Puff thrusts the flowers toward the gray wolf and she leans down to sniff the delicate blossoms. Their strong, sweet scent pulls up a memory of an herb her mother would use and her blue eyes closely inspect the small, white clustered flowers. Eyebrows lift in surprise as she says, “Puff! You found Yarrow! We can harvest it for the healers! Can you show me where you found the plant?” Excitedly, Puff nods and bounds off with Fern hot on her heels.


"Fern Lark" | "Puff"

Lia also kept a satchel on hand. She had been using it to collect seeds to add to her own garden, but it would work to carry some herbs in a pinch as well. She followed after Gwynevere and the others. As the leader of the group asked them to spread out, the antlered girl nodded and moved across the Wildberry Grove.

As Fern joined, she gleaned up at her friend and gave an appreciative smile. Had she remembered Lia’s fear of leaving the pack territory alone? Regardless, she knew she was happy to have the Knight with them.

Looking at the Grove, Lia decided that it was a beautiful territory though the harsh summer heat hadn’t been kind to some of the plants in open expanses, the grove seemed more protected. Her eyes danced across flowers and fruit as she considered what would be useful for the pack. Her gaze caught on the tightly clustered purple petals of a flower. Trotting closer, she carefully sniffed the plant, and confirmed it. Alfalfa. Good for weight gain, breast milk, and blood flow. She carefully snipped a few samples of it. Making sure not to take enough to kill the whole plant.


Speech

Gwynevere was about to begin her own search for the local plant life for this place when she looked up and saw Fern approaching her. She smiled and dipped her head gratefully, replying, "Not at all. I'm happy to have a Knight with us." None of them as far as she knew were fighters so it was good to have someone adept at such things with them. Fanning out, she glanced over at some of the others in the group and saw that they were finding some success in their search and were stowing plants in their own bags as they went. Moving through the grove, she tried to look for things that they might not already have in their green house or were more rare than others. That would make having the wildberry grove at their disposal very beneficial if they could find something like that.

Among the various berry bushes she spotted the small, dark, radish-black berries of an elderberry plant and her ears perked, walking toward the bush with a small smile. They didn't need elderberries as often here in Auster where the weather was more steady and warm more often than not where there wasn't as much risk of colds and the like, but she felt like it was still something good to keep on hand and that could be added into other treatments as well. That wasn't something she came across all the time and she was pretty sure they didn't keep it growing in the green house either. There was sure to be more elderberry bushes around here somewhere, but for now she started clipping off a few bundles of the berries and slipping them into her bag.

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

The group of scouting healers had gathered, and they even had the added benefit of the watchful gaze of one of the Hallows' fighters with them as well! Syanna didn't exactly feel the same apprehension about venturing beyond the pack borders that Gwynevere and Lia had, but she appreciated the added security all the same. She knew her assailant lay dead and gone and took comfort in that knowledge; Fern would be a benefit to her own mental wellbeing while she did her work. The group instantly began to divide and conquer, and Syanna hurried back to the marigold flowers she had found before. There was an abundance of them growing in the sunny clearings. This would be an excellent place to farm the handy herb! With careful claws, Syanna cut away a few of the goldenrod blooms and stowed them away in her little satchel to take back to the castle with them. She intended to start a catalogue of all the plants they found out this way today.

Venturing off on her own a bit, Syanna continued to scour the grove for anything of interest her keen eyes could find. Passing by a thicket of maple trees, Syanna spotted a small shrub with bright glossy green leaves with jagged edges. Her eyes immediately lit up as she recognized the handy herb—motherwort! An excellent medicinal herb to help relieve the symptoms of a female's heat, as well as ease the pains of pregnancy and stimulate contractions in the later stages. With a pack that was a majority female, this little plant was like striking gold in a mine. Syanna carefully extracted a few large, healthy leaves to add to her satchel as well. Already the Wildberry Grove was paying off in dividends in the healing department!

"Syanna"

Fern offers her assistance and Gwynevere accepts, the gray girl offering the taller Carpathius woman a soft, supportive smile. With a wink and friendly bump of her shoulder, the gray girl begins to slowly make her rounds between the healers, checking in with each and offering her help. Syanna seems engrossed in collecting different herbs and Fern chuckles as she allows the shorter healer to work. Making her way over to where Lia works, Fern is stopped by an excited Puff. The small stoat has found flowers that belong to a yarrow plant!

As her friend begins to bound off in the direction of the yarrow, the gray girl moves over to her fiery pelted friend and greets her warmly, “Hey Lia! I have a huge favor to ask. Would you mind helping me pick some yarrow? Puff found some but I am rusty in my… herb picking skills.” A shy, uncertain smile is on her pale lips as Fern shuffles her paws in a small show of uncertainty as she looks to the taller Lia. Her tail wags loosely at her hips as she waits for the healer’s answer.

Puff suddenly bursts through the undergrowth, happily chattering and pointing in the direction of the yarrow, ready to lead the way.

"Fern Lark"

She harvested what she could of the alfalfa without taking too much, and then considered the plant carefully. There was still enough of it that it wouldn’t do any harm to harvest some seeds. She carefully grasped a stalk gentl, and pulled upwards. Allowing the seeds to come off into her palm. She transferred those into a small soft pouch she kept in the bag. Its express purpose was carrying seeds for her. Now she could plant some back at home, or redistribute some here so they could always find some of the plant when they hunted for it.

That done, the small healer cleaned up after herself, and looked about herself. Checking to see if anyone else needed another pair of hands, or if they still needed some more herbs to find. At about that point, Fern reached her and she smiled at the friendly silver wolf. “Of course! I’d be delighted to” She said, happy to be a part of this gathering and helping wolves. She followed after Fern and her companion

Speech

With her clusters of elderberry collected and a few clippings from the bush collected so she could try to propagate a new plant when she got back home, Gwynevere began to move back toward the clearing where they had began their collection journey, keeping an eye out for the others and motioning for them to join her as she found them again. Once everyone had finished their gathering and reconvened, she smiled gently and looked to the other healers and Fern with curiosity. "I found a good supply of Elderberry over that way" she mentioned with a gesture of her paw. "What did everyone else end up with?" She listened as they all took turns showing what they had gathered. It was a wide and varied collection of herbs and it showed the diversity and usefulness of this space for them. She was certainly impressed and glad that her brother had decided to make this place a new part of their land. "I think we've found more than enough samples of how useful this place will be for healing purposes," she said with a soft smile as she got back to her paws. "Lets head back. Good work everyone!"

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

Syanna had just finished gathering up some of the motherwort plants and stashed them away in her satchel when Gwynevere recalled the group back together. She returned to the group, impressed by the amount of plant life they'd all been able to find in the lush grove. "I found a lot of marigold growing around the grove, as well as some shrubs of motherwort," she replied when her Chief Physician asked what everyone had been able to find. "If everyone wants to leave their findings with me, I'll bring them back to the castle and begin storing them in the pharmacy." Syanna then waited for everyone else to reveal what they had been able to find, eager to see what bounties of medicines the Wildberry Grove had to offer the Hallows. When they were finished here, she would have some work to do cataloguing everything and making notes of where they could begin cultivating the herbs for future use.

"Syanna"

Fern and Lia follow Puff to where a plethora of yarrow grows. The gray girl blinks in surprise at the abundance of the plant and she looks to her healer friend for direction. Once instructions are given, she carefully digs up two small sections of the plants, since Lia informs her that all parts of it are useful. Gray paws are covered in dirt as she passes off the treasure, a huge happy smile on her face. The call from Gwynevere rings out and Fern gives her coat a good shake before collecting Puff and moving, with Lia, to the meeting point. When they arrive, Gwyn asks what they all ended up with, Fern happily says, “We found yarrow!” Tail wags as she looks to the tall red healer, she gives Lia a wink. Once everyone has turned in their plants, Fern walks with the group back to the castle.

"Fern Lark"

They arrived at the yarrow, and lia made a noise of pleasure at seeing the abundance of the plant. The healer was quick to show Fern how to clip the parts they needed, and what to leave behind so that the plant could still thrive.

That done, Lia follows Fern to the meeting point, where Gwenevere was asking what people had located. Fern was quick to tell her about the Yarrow, and Lia pulled out her little stash of Alfalfa, so that the lead healer could ensure it got where it needed to go. It was time to head back, and Lia looked about the clearing one last time. It would be good to have another territory rich with herbs.


Speech